


Wake Up

by hawksonfire



Series: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019 [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bucky sits by his bedside, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Clint Barton Feels, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, Clint goes into a coma, Clint has A+ avoidance skills, Comatose Clint Barton, Deaf Clint Barton, Hurt Clint Barton, M/M, POV Bucky Barnes, Pre-Relationship, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Protective Steve Rogers, Worried Jarvis (Iron Man movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 21:21:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18432344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawksonfire/pseuds/hawksonfire
Summary: Clint tells Bucky he loves him and promptly falls into a coma. A+ avoidance skills there, Clint.





	Wake Up

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Bucky Barnes Bingo C5 - Coma.
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy!

**Bucky**

Bucky was in shock. He had just been laughing at Clint for almost slipping on a banana peel. Seriously, who actually does that? And then there was an explosion and he was knocked off his feet into a wall. His head was throbbing and something was wrong with his ankle but other than that he was fine.

“Barton, you alright?” Bucky coughs, mouth dry from the dust. No answer. “Barton, c’mon pal, check in.” Nothing.

“Sergeant Barnes, are you alright?” Bucky twitches at the voice from nowhere.

“Yeah, JARVIS, I’m fine. You know what happened or have eyes on Barton?” Bucky stands slowly, testing his ankle. He can already feel it healing, but it’s tender.

“It appears that intruders tried to breach the Tower by blowing a hole in the side of the building. Captain Rogers and Sir are taking care of them as we speak. Agent Barton was eight feet to your left when the explosion occurred and I am getting a faint heat signature from that direction.”

Bucky limps over to where JARVIS said he could find Clint. “Nothing here ‘cept a pile of rubble, J,” he says, frustrated.

“The heat signature is coming from underneath that rubble, Sergeant Barnes.” Bucky whips around and starts throwing chunks of concrete and steel over his shoulder.

“C’mon, Barton, be here,” Bucky mutters, ignoring the blood he can feel oozing down the side of his face. He yanks a large piece of concrete off the pile and breathes a sigh of relief when he sees Barton’s hand twitching slightly. “Barton, if you can hear me, I’m getting you out of there! Try and stay awake, you understand?” Bucky redoubles his efforts, throwing rubble over his shoulder like a possessed man.

He finally unearths Barton’s head, and there’s a nasty gash cutting across his forehead dripping blood into his eyes. “Barnes…” Barton says weakly, so faintly even Bucky has a hard time hearing it.

“I’m here, Barton, you stay with me, understand? Don’t you dare pass out on me now!” Bucky shouts, watching Barton’s eyes flutter. “JARVIS, tell medical I need them down here yesterday!” He barks, shoving the last piece of rubble off Clint’s body.

“They are on their way, as well as Captain Rogers, Agent Romanoff, and Sir.”

Bucky sits cross-legged on the dusty floor and moves Clint’s head to his lap. “Hands…” Clint coughs. Blood bubbles out of his mouth and Bucky grimaces.

“Your hands are fine, Barton, you’ll be able to draw a bow again, don’t worry. Focus on me, you hear me?” Clint stares at his mouth and nods.

“Hearing… gone…” Clint says slowly, “Blast took it.”

“That’s alright,” Bucky says, maintaining eye contact, “Stark’s med team will fix you up good as new, get you a new set of aids and everything. Bright purple this time, promise.”

“Gonna… hold you to that, Barnes,” Clint mutters, eyes closing.

“Hey, none of that now,” Bucky says, making Clint’s eyes snap open. “You keep your eyes on me. What can I tell you to keep you awake?”

“You could tell me… why you’re so insistent on ignoring… all the flirting I’ve been doing,” Clint says, eyes clearing momentarily.

Bucky blinks. “You’ve been flirting? With me?”

Clint lifts his arm up and lets it flop onto Bucky’s leg. “That was a slap,” he informs Bucky. “You’re all the good. So much good in you, it makes me cross-eyed sometimes.” He takes a rattling breath. Where the _fuck_ is the med team, Bucky thinks. “Wouldn’a fall’n ‘n’ love with you, otherwise…” Clint’s voice fades away and his eyes roll back in his head as he passes out.

“Clint, no!” Bucky shouts, shaking him gently. “C’mon, you asshole, wake up! You can’t just say something like that and then pass out on me! Wake up, dammit!”

“Buck, you down here?” Bucky’s head snaps up at Steve’s voice.

“Steve, over here!” He yells. “Hurry, Clint’s down. He needs medical attention!” Footsteps pound through the rubble and Steve and Stark come skidding around a corner, weapons raised.

“Medical team’s right behind us, Buck, he’ll be okay,” Steve tries to soothe Bucky but it’s not working.

“What happened?” Stark asks.

“Explosion,” Bucky grunts, cradling Clint’s head in his lap. “Blew out a wall or something, and the wall landed on him. I hit my head. I should’ve been there!” Bucky curses, furious with himself.

“You were there, Buck. From what you’re saying and from the size of that rubble pile, you pulled him out before too much damage could be done. He’ll be okay.” Steve puts a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. The medical team comes racing around the corner and lift Clint onto a stretcher, running back the way they came throwing words like ‘head trauma’ and ‘internal bleeding’. They’re gone as fast as they came, leaving Bucky standing there in shock, Steve’s hand on his shoulder.

~~~~~~

“What the fuck do you mean, _he’s in a coma_?” Bucky snarls at the nurse. He only feels a little bad when she backs away from him in fear.

“Bucky, calm down!” Steve says, stepping in between him and the nurse.

“Fuck off, Steve,” Bucky growls, turning around and stomping away. He walks around the medical floor until he reaches Clint’s room, only to find it already occupied. “Natalia.”

“James.” Natalia looks at him calmly. “Why are you here?”

“Came to keep him company, but you’re here already.” Bucky turns to leave but is stopped by a small hand on his wrist.

“The more the merrier,” Natalia says with a wry smile. Bucky smirks half-heartedly back and slumps into the extra chair. The two of them sit in silence for two hours before Bucky gathers enough courage to wrap his fingers around Clint’s hand. Natalia raises her eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Bucky growls, focusing on Clint, “Moron confessed his love for me right before he passed out, didn’t give me a chance to return the favour.”

“He does like dramatic exits.” Natalia sighs and shakes her head, then gets up from the chair. “Keep him company while I am gone, James.”

“‘M not goin’ anywhere,” Bucky promises. Natalia leaves and James sits back in his chair, keeping his eyes locked on Clint’s face. “C’mon sweetheart,” he says softly, “Show me those pretty blue eyes of yours.”

~~~~~~

Bucky leaves his room four times during Clint’s coma. Once because Steve makes him shower (after which Bucky has Clint moved to a room with a shower in it), twice because the doctors need to run tests (Bucky hovers outside the doorway the whole time, and is immediately back in the chair beside his bed after they’re done) and once because Natalia walks in and takes one look at him, shakes her head and says, “You need to go on a walk outside the Tower. Do not come back for an hour or I will gut you.”

Bucky scoffs. “Like you could, Natalia, like you could.”

He goes on the walk.

~~~~~~

He’s holding Clint’s hand one day when Stark comes into Clint’s room. “When did that happen?” Stark asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

“It hasn’t happened yet,” Bucky says simply, not looking away from Clint, “That’s why this asshole needs to wake up. So it can happen.”

“We’re doing all we can, Barnes,” Tony says. If Bucky didn’t know better, he’d think Stark was trying to comfort him. “He’s only in a coma so his body can heal the damage done to it. He’ll wake up.”

“You don’t know that, Stark. People die.”

“He won’t,” Stark says sharply. “I won’t let him.”

~~~~~~

It’s day four of the sixth week when Bucky gets the first sign of life. Clint’s hand tightens momentarily on his and Bucky’s eyes snap up from his book, searching Clint’s face. “C’mon sweetheart, open your eyes for me,” he says softly, “Don’t keep putting me through this torture.”

Clint’s hand tightens again, but his eyes remain closed. Bucky sighs and slumps back into his chair.

“I dunno how much longer I can see you like this, Clint.” Bucky presses a kiss to Clint’s knuckles and goes back to his book, keeping his fingers entwined with Clint’s.

He doesn’t see Clint’s eyelids flutter.

~~~~~~

It’s been almost two months, and Clint is no closer to waking up. Bucky spends all day every day in that hospital room, and he’s seen no signs of life since the day Clint’s hand squeezed his. “I miss you, sweetheart,” Bucky says, mouth pressed to Clint’s knuckles. “I miss you like you wouldn’t believe.” He pulls his mouth away from Clint’s hand and stares at the ceiling. “You told me that you fell in love with me because I was good, but the truth is…” Bucky takes a breath. “You’re good, Clint. You’re so good. You help the team constantly, even when we’re not on missions. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen you diffuse a fight between Stevie and Stark before it happens, sometimes before it even thinks about happening.”

Bucky scrubs a hand over his eyes. It comes away wet. “You help Bruce keep his calm when Tony gets to be too much, you make Thor laugh, you’re the only one who Natalia feels safe with, really - have I ever thanked you for saving her? I should’ve thanked you before now, but… I guess I thought I’d have time to tell you all the things I never got to say.” He scoffs wetly. “I should’a known time wasn’t on my side.”

“Fuck time.” Bucky’s head snaps down and he locks eyes with Clint.

“You’re awake!” Bucky grins and tightens his grip on Clint’s hand.

“How long I out?” Clint coughs. Bucky untangles their fingers and grabs the water glass, guiding the straw to Clint’s lips.

“Seven weeks,” Bucky says, shrugging. “Worst seven weeks of my life.”

“Yeah?” Clint grins. “You mean what you were saying?”

Bucky nods furiously. “Didn’t get a chance to tell you before you passed out on me, but I love you too Clint. Have for a while, just took a minute to notice.” He shrugs with one shoulder. “You still feel like you did?”

Clint grins and his hand twitches. Bucky grabs it and presses a kiss to it, eyes sparkling up at Clint. “Yeah, I think there’re some feelings floating around somewhere in this pile of mush I call a brain.”

“Hey!” Bucky says, tapping Clint’s nose. “That’s my boyfriend’s pile of mush you’re insulting.”

Clint laughs brightly. “Boyfriend, huh?” Bucky nods. “I could get used to that.” Bucky grins at him.

“You damn well better.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wish Bucky would sit at my bedside for two months. *sigh*


End file.
